by Simon Lim
I applause Education Minister Ong Ye Kung who came out promptly not to defend National University of Singapore for imposing a one semester suspension on Nick Lim but to admit that the penalties imposed on him are manifestly inadequate which they indeed are.
Bravo Mr Ong. The true measure of any person is not where he/she stands in times of comfort and convenience but where he/she stands in times of challenges and controversies and in this case, Ong YE stood well.
Now, Home Affair and Law Minister K Shanmugam. For his voyeurism on Ms Monica Baey, Nicholas Lim was only given a 12 months conditional warning by the police and the public is clearly unhappy and upset and rightly so. Police’s decision could be a directive from the Attorney General Chamber (AGC) but as a citizen, I feel that K. Shanmugam shouldn’t just continue to maintain his silence about this particular case but to further explain to Singaporeans what motivated AGC or the police to make that kids grove decision. Nicholas Lim is not a teenager. Before the police made that decision, did they go through his laptop? Are they sure that he didn’t commit any other voyeurisms on other females as well etc?
As the trust and confidence in the PAP government among native Singaporeans continue to slip, thinking Singaporeans are asking harder and smarter questions that until recently, people didn’t bother, thought it was unnecessary to ask or didn’t dare to ask.
Since this incident is now in the public domain and not a classified information, the least Mr Shanmugam should have done is to explain the reasons and/or merits of the police decision. Unlike Ong YK, for him to continue keeping quiet while public disquiet and unhappiness is ongoing, to me, is definitely a sign of his arrogance or his weak leadership or both. Think.
This post was first published on Mr Lim’s Facebook page and reproduced with permission
